Advent Calendar 2021 Day 21: The Keith Harris Christmas Party, 1983

Ventriloquists could once upon a time earn themselves a surprisingly long and distinguished career. Think of how when being brought up you were led to believe Terry Hall and Lenny The Lion were hugely important, or how omnipresent Roger de Courcey was for a while, or the US legend of Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, or the even greater radio legend of Educating Archie. Keith Harris made his TV debut as far back as 1965. He was a regular guest on Seaside Special, The Good Old Days and the Black & White Minstrels - in fact it was backstage while Leslie Mitchell's men were doing their thing that he found the green fur he would turn into Orville. By 1983, the year after Orville's Song, he had his own series - not specifically for children at all, the first series of his own comedic variety show went out on springtime Saturdays at 6.15pm with proper variety names and pop stars ranging from Bobby Crush to Strawberry Switchblade via Gloria Gaynor as guests. And yet his Christmas special is at 4.35pm, something for the kids between Bridge On The River Kwai and the news. So there's your mixed messages context, because this is very much aimed at children rather than families given the big visitor is Crackerjack nuisance Stu Francis. A cold open features Harris in a lurid yellow sweater telling us we should have been there the previous day and then throwing to flashback, which is as big a sign as possible that he'd been told this would go out before or on the day and had to put in an emergency intro once the listings were published to explain why there's a long interlude in which Orville sings the nativity story. If nothing else, it's a show full of similar surprises. Cuddles has legs! Keith and Orville live separately! Orville's guest bedroom is haunted and it traps him and Francis, and yet he stays there overnight! Orville's house has a resident fairy! Not only does Shakin' Stevens visit but he somehow smuggled a single saxophonist into the house! Cuddles has constructed a guillotine for use on Orville, and it's not as troubling as his Savile impression! Speaking of which, Stu makes an "Irish Father Christmas" joke before Keith refers to Francis' soot-covered visage (he fell down the chimney, see) as "black face". Right at the end half of the whole of showbusiness (plus Fern Britton and Ian McCaskill) arrives at the door, and also Cuddles who was surely already indoors, and that's where the credits roll. Oh, thanks for inviting us then. And remember, Come To My Party is now available on BBC Records & Tapes, but it won't get past number 44.